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Android phone with best signal . . ?

Bob Newhart

By Bob Newhart
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Bob Newhart Member Level: eHRPD

Bob Newhart

Posted
Posted

Looking to replace my Galaxy Nexus with a phone that has a much stronger signal strength for locations within buildings and in the outskirts of towns.

 

Of these below, which phone has the best signal strength?

 

Samsung Galaxy SIII, HTV EVO LTE, Motorola Photon, LG Optimus G or another..

 

I also want the 'disable roaming data' option to work, so I don't get hit with roaming charges in Canada.

This option does not work on the GNex.

 

It seems as though the SIII would the best bet right now, right?

 

Even though I love bare Android, a working phone is more important to me. I have a Nexus4 for my work phone, that phone is amazing in every way.

 

thanks very much

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S4GRU Member Level: LTE Advanced

S4GRU

Posted
Posted

Looking to replace my Galaxy Nexus with a phone that has a much stronger signal strength for locations within buildings and in the outskirts of towns.

 

Of these below, which phone has the best signal strength?

 

Samsung Galaxy SIII, HTV EVO LTE, Motorola Photon, LG Optimus G or another..

 

I also want the 'disable roaming data' option to work, so I don't get hit with roaming charges in Canada.

This option does not work on the GNex.

 

It seems as though the SIII would the best bet right now, right?

 

Even though I love bare Android, a working phone is more important to me. I have a Nexus4 for my work phone, that phone is amazing in every way.

 

thanks very much

 

I have all of these devices. Based on my experiences, these are the order of RF Performance:

  1. LG Optimus G
  2. Samsung Galaxy S3
  3. Motorola Photon Q
  4. HTC EVO LTE

For the most part, the GS3 and Optimus G have very similar signal strengths. But where the LG is better is at very low signal strengths. The LG seemed to be able to cling on to weak signals better and was more usable between -104dBm and -108dBm, where the GS3 would drop. But this was not all good news. Sometimes the LG would cling to very unusable signals like between -110dBm and -118dBm RSSI. And this would prevent you from roaming, getting stuck on a native signal that couldn't be used. If the signal is too weak, it's better to roam in my opinion.

 

They all allow roaming and international roaming to be disabled, as best as I can recall off the top of my head. The Motorola Photon Q is pretty buggy and not as stellar of a radio performer as the prior OG Photon was.

 

Robert

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digiblur Member Level: LTE Advanced

digiblur

Posted
Posted

Stay away from the EVO LTE. Past that device I also have the GS3 the and Note2 to compare to. The LTE coverage is better on the Note2 than the S3 but the S3 had a very slight edge on PCS CDMA. The Note2 did a better job on 850mhz roaming than the S3. I suspect the same would be true on 800SMR but I have none to compare against.

 

Sent from my little Note2

 

 

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Rukin1 Member Level: eHRPD

Rukin1

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Stay away from the EVO LTE. Past that device I also have the GS3 the and Note2 to compare to. The LTE coverage is better on the Note2 than the S3 but the S3 had a very slight edge on PCS CDMA. The Note2 did a better job on 850mhz roaming than the S3. I suspect the same would be true on 800SMR but I have none to compare against.

 

Sent from my little Note2

Really? I noticed my moms note 2 when she got 4G. held it for like 20 seconds longer. But I also got 4G where she couldn't on her note 2.. and It seems I have more bars at times
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  • 3 months later...
VegasRooted Member Level: Morse Code

VegasRooted

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Posted (edited)

I work in a very weak signal area, so I am always searching for the best Android on Sprint for RF signal strength. I've had a lot of phones and experience in regards to weak signal area testing.  I've tried the original Motorola Photon, Motorola Admiral, HTC Evo 4G (original), HTC Evo 4G LTE, Samsung Galaxy S2, S3, and S4, and the LG Optimus G, among others.  I always have roaming turned off, so this is strictly using Sprint...

 

The way I would rank the best ones that I have tested here at work for RF signal reception:

 

1. Motorola Photon (original version, not the Q) - Hands down the best, so far...but too damn old!

2. LG Optimus G (performs much better than any other when on weak 3G & 1x, this is my phone of choice right now. Very consistent.)

3. Samsung Galaxy Victory (On par with the Optimus G for average strength, though slightly less stable; weak 3G performance is poor in comparison, however.)

4. Samsung Galaxy S3 (Decent, but inconsistent; weak 3G is pretty unusable.)

 

Anyways, that's what I've come up with so far!  I'm gonna try a couple of mid-range LG's (The Viper & the Optimus F3) and see how they perform, since I like the RF performance of the Optimus G so much; maybe these two would have similar or even stronger strength.  We'll see! :-)

 

Cheers,

VegasRooted

 

PS-- As others have mentioned, I have also heard that the Samsung Galaxy Note II is extremely good for RF signal, though I've not tried it for myself.  It is just a little too big for my taste...Also, the Galaxy S4 actually performed weaker than the S3 for me in the same weak signal locations...too bad, I love the hardware. :-(

Edited by VegasRooted
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ab30494 Member Level: 3G EVDO

ab30494

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Posted

Really? I noticed my moms note 2 when she got 4G. held it for like 20 seconds longer. But I also got 4G where she couldn't on her note 2.. and It seems I have more bars at times

Don't forget the bars is only the signal strength for 1x. Not LTE signal strength.

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Rukin1 Member Level: eHRPD

Rukin1

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I haven't heard the wife complain about it.

It picks up the 5Ghz and regular 2.5ghz. Which i wish my damn laptop did lol!

 

Don't forget the bars is only the signal strength for 1x. Not LTE signal strength.

The Rom I use, shows the bars as the 4G strength.

 

I know a member with both the Note2 and S4 and in the LTE side of things the S4 has the edge.

So I've heard. Hopefully the note 3 will have the edge on the S4 or matched :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
VegasRooted Member Level: Morse Code

VegasRooted

Posted
Posted (edited)

** THIS IS AN UPDATE TO MY PREVIOUS POST, NOW INCLUDING THE HTC ONE **

 

NOTES: 4G LTE is not fully deployed in Las Vegas yet, so this testing does not include it in the equation...also, for reference, I am using Network Signal Info as my go-to app for compare the phones side-by-side. I also verify with Net Monitor and some others...

 

So...the way I would rank the best Sprint CDMA smartphones that I have tested at work for RF signal reception:

 

1. Motorola Photon (original version, not the Q) - Hands down the best, so far...but too damn old!

2. HTC One (My current favorite; even running CyanogenMod 10.1 Nightly, I still get about 5-10% better signal than Optimus G.)

3. LG Optimus G (performs better than most others at holding onto weaker 3G & 1x.)

4. Samsung Galaxy Victory (On par with Optimus G, though slightly less stable; weaker 3G performance is poor in comparison.)

5. Samsung Galaxy S3 (Decent, but inconsistent; weak 3G is pretty unusable.)

6. Samsung Galaxy S4 (Similar to S3 in performance, but seems slightly weaker at holding signal in weaker fringe areas.)

 

PS- I LOVE the Samsung Galaxy phones more than any others for their speed, expandable memory, removable batteries, awesome screens, call (sound) quality, etc...but their damn RF antennas (at least their Sprint variety CDMA antennas) are so weak! Such a shame...

 

Anyways, hope this list helps some of you that live or work in fringe coverage areas! (At least for voice reception and basic data, text, MMS, etc...) 

 

Cheers! :-)

 

VegasRooted

Edited by VegasRooted
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Ascertion Member Level: LTE Advanced

Ascertion

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Posted

Funny how this varies so much. I have heard several that say even the S4 beats the Note2 in the RF world.

The S4 when I played with it had amazing RF performance. I have a site down the street from my home and I tested LTE on my gs4 and compared with the gs3 on many occasions. The gs4 hands down beat gs3 in LTE performance. While signal strength was relatively similar (-93-98dBm), I had my gs4 pull 28mbps while in the same spot, the gs3 would pull 19-20. Although the OP is correct about the GS4 in regards to fringe signal. I found myself roaming more often at work (Sprint is terrible at work.) And it actually saved me a lot of battery instead of fighting for Sprint signal like my GS3 does.

 

I think the GS3 has a slightly better radio than the Note, though. I just wish cm10.1 had better LTE performance for the gs3. Lol

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

 

 

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Rocket87 Member Level: 4G WiMax

Rocket87

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I honestly say the HTC one is weak on lte just like the evo lte. I have the opportunity to use the One next to every Sprint phone and it consistently drops lte is the back half of the store. I've owned and used lte in this location with a GNex, GS 3, OG, and now the ONE. All the OnES drop lte in the back half of the Sprint store while every thing else works in the whole building, well everything else besides the evo lte.

 

Sent from my HTCONE using Tapatalk 4

 

 

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koiulpoi Member Level: 4G WiMax

koiulpoi

Posted
Posted

I know this is completely not what you're looking for, but the iPad Mini has so far impressed me with its ability to find and hold on to LTE. It seems stronger than any other non-hotspot device I've played with, including the iPad Maximus.

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VegasRooted Member Level: Morse Code

VegasRooted

Posted
Posted

I was under the impression that the OP wanted to get consensus opinion on the best smartphones for basic RF performance, such as holding voice signal in weak areas for the purpose of effectively making and receiving calls, and for sending and receiving SMS & MMS in equally weak spots...so I assumed that he was referring to basic 1x, 3G, etc., and not necessarily the speed & strength of 4G LTE data.  As we don't have 4G LTE fully deployed here in Las Vegas yet, and the discussion seems to be directed more and more toward 4G LTE speed and strength, I will respectfully bow out of the conversation, because unfortunately I have no useful information to contribute in that regard.  So in parting, please keep in mind that the RF performance & signal strength comparisons that I made in my posts within this thread were specifically focused on basic RF performance, exclusive of 4G LTE.  

 

Cheers to all! :-)

VegasRooted

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